Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Click on the headline or http://mashable.com/2012/03/20/why-is-pinterest-so-addictive/ to see the graphics.

I ask myself this question every day (and every night at 2 a.m. when I’m still pinning). But seriously, what is so great about spending hours browsing other people’s images?

Column Five created this infographic to examine the Pinterest addiction that seems to be spreading like a zombie apocalypse virus. Proof? Pinterest users spend an average 98 minutes on site per month, third only to Tumblr (2.5 hours) and Facebook (7 hours). Antidote? None.

Beyond the data, the company examines why Internet culture is so fascinated with pinning. It posits that digital hoarding has a lot to do with it. On Pinterest, we have free license to create an entire board dedicated to “teal-colored guitars.”

Then there’s the issue of social media fatigue. Is Pinterest just different enough from other social networks that it frees us from incessant updates and checkins? Or has it just replaced one addiction with another — a sort of social media gateway drug?